We are living today in a Service Economy. 70% to 80% of the GDP in the developed countries is generated in the Service Sector. The ‘Service Sector’ is itself a collection of many different industries such as banking and healthcare, distribution services (e.g. retailing), professional services (e.g. consulting), government support services (police protection). The development of the services sector also generates many different models and theories on how to manage in the service economy. The research community talks about ‘Service Science’, ‘The Service-Dominant Logic’ and ‘Servitisation’. In the previous years, I had the opportunitiy to work with different companies such as hospitals, airline companies, theme parks, facilities services companies, public companies and manufacturing companies. They all want to offer their clients better services, the one in a business-to-consumer context and the other in a business-to-business context. Studying the service management practices in these different sectors will deliver a clear picture on how to serve the client of the future. The following statements give some first insights in what this picture will be:

• The biggest challenge is to create a consistent mental picture of what kind of service provider the company aims to be, and to train employees in such a way that they can make this happen.
• Services management starts and ends with understanding the customer requirements
• Keeping the right balance between standardization and customization is a major challenge.
• Innovation is the key driver for cost-effective service excellence.